Obama has come out with an ad explaining how he identifies the threats we face and how he would go about solving them.

Let’s do the list:

One, he identifies the threat of cyber-attacks and loose nukes are critical.

This is good because neither of these topics are discussed much in the news, if at all. They are, however, threats we’ve backburned due to the GWOT. That he brings them up is important to me, as it makes me think he’s actually thought this through better than his pollsters.

Two, he recognizes the immediate solution to the terrorist problem depends on better alliances. As much as we may not like the UN and NATO and such, the reality of warfare is that unless you’re ready to pay a cataclysmically stiff price, it’s not a “go it alone” affair. Even the Romans needed allies in every major conflict they fought. Grumble about inadequate sanctions all one wants, but Iran would not be ascendant like it is now if we had listened to our allies in ‘03.

Third, and most importantly, he points out the strategic solution to global terrorism:

Energy independence. I know it’ll cause heartbreak in Houston - which is why the White House is talking about offshore drilling and ordering the Saudis to open the spigots full blast, rather than trying to wean us from oil - but it’s got to be done. All that money and favor goes right from the pump and into the pockets of the Islamic nations.

What’s more, the reason gas is so bloody expensive is that China needs it more than we do, and is paying top price for it. Thus, if we had an economy and infrastructure based on non-petrofuel energy, China would be stuck with the oil problem and we’d be riding high on the value of a new technology. And believe me, that tech is going to be worth buckets when the rising stars among the developing nations - India, China, the Middle East - realize they may have heaps of petro-industrial wealth, but zilch resources like water, food and energy.

It may sound weird, but the weapon of the 21st century is going to be conservation.

Obama gets that.